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Venus Williams advances to 4th round at Wimbledon
2008-06-28
WIMBLEDON, England - No slow start for Venus Williams this time. After struggling in tight first sets in her opening two matches, the defending champion moved out quickly Saturday and raised her game when she needed in the second to beat Spanish qualifier Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-1, 7-5 and reach the fourth round at Wimbledon. The four-time champion was barely tested in the first set by the 101st-ranked left-hander. But Williams was pushed to the limit in the second when Martinez Sanchez switched to an effective serve-and-volley game. "I was very pleased with the performance," the seventh-seeded Williams said. "Things got close in the second set. She was really playing well, and I had to come up with something more than she was giving." The 25-year-old Martinez Sanchez had never won a Grand Slam singles match until this tournament and looked out of her depth in the first set against the six-time major winner. But she scored repeatedly with serve-and-volley winners and angled drop shots and drop volleys in the second set. "It was a great strategy," Williams said. "In the first set it wasn't working for her from the baseline. I was impressed with the way she changed strategy and made it really competitive in the second." The Spaniard rallied from 3-1 down to go ahead 5-4 on serve. But she double-faulted on break point to give Williams a 6-5 lead. The American served out the match at love, finishing with a 127 mph delivery for her 11th ace. Williams finished with 33 winners, as well as 10 unforced errors and six double faults. Williams had played erratically in her first two matches against modest British opponents on Centre Court, winning the first set in a tiebreaker against Naomi Cavaday and pressed to 7-5 in the first set against Anne Keothavong. Also advancing to the round of 16 Saturday was fifth-seeded Elena Dementieva, who beat Gisela Dulko of Argentina, 7-6 (2) 7-5. The tournament has been jolted by a series of early-round upsets that have decimated the seeding lists. Six of the top-10 seeded men have been knocked out so far before the fourth round: No. 3 Novak Djokovic, No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko, No. 5 Ferrer, No. 6 Andy Roddick, No. 7 David Nalbandian and No. 9 James Blake. No. 1 Ana Ivanovic's loss Friday to 133rd-ranked Zheng Jie of China means two of the top three seeded women are already gone. No. 3 Maria Sharapova, the 2004 champion, was bounced out Thursday by 154th-ranked Alla Kudryavtseva. Avoiding the upset trend so far has been No. 2 Jelena Jankovic, who was leading off play on Centre Court on Saturday against 17-year-old Dane Caroline Wozniacki. Nadal, who lost to Federer in the last two finals, was paired against Nicolas Kiefer. Roger Federer's next opponent at Wimbledon is the last man to win the title before the Swiss star began his run of five straight championships. And beyond that could be a matchup with the last player to beat him at Wimbledon six years ago. After a relatively easy stroll through the first three rounds, things could start to get trickier for Federer as he continues his march toward a sixth championship at the All England Club. Next up in the round of 16 on Monday will be Lleyton Hewitt, the scrappy Australian who won the title in 2002. The two have met 20 times -- with Federer winning the last 11 dating back to the 2004 Australian Open and holding an overall edge of 13-7. In their only two previous Wimbledon matchups, Federer won in the 2004 quarterfinals and 2005 semifinals. If Federer gets past Hewitt, he could face a dangerous floater in the quarters. Mario Ancic was the last player to have beaten Federer at Wimbledon -- he did so as a qualifier in the first round in 2002.
Williams sisters both win on `Graveyard' (2008-06-30)Zheng stuns Ivanovic, Federer cruises (2008-06-28)Venus Williams advances to 4th round at Wimbledon (2008-06-28)Sharapova advances to 4th round (2008-05-31)Russia, China and Spain through to Fed Cup semi-finals (2008-02-03)
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